Robyn's Nest Bakery

Monday, April 4, 2011

Our Love Story—Intentions Revealed

“Robyn, I just wanted you to know that I think you’re a great girl. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you. And, before you start to date J, I’d like the chance to get to know you better.”

Whoa, back up. What did you just say? Are you serious? Did I hear that right? Is this like one of those t.v. moments where you put words into someone else’s mouth and you hear them say what you want to hear verses what they’re actually saying?

I honestly don’t remember what my response was. But I am certain I continued biting my cheek in a vain effort not to let the excitement on my face match the exhilaration in my heart. After all he wasn’t proposing—he was simply clarifying that he wanted to get to know me better.

He wanted to get to know me better. Me!

I remember very little about the rest of our conversation but I remember that it lasted at least 45 minutes because I was decidedly late for my next class… and I didn’t care a lick! I would have been happy to miss all of my classes for the rest of the week if I could have just stayed in that moment!

I do remember him communicating however, that though he’d taken an interest in me some weeks earlier, he chose not to pursue me since school was ending in a month and he already had Summer plans that would leave him traveling the Northwest, and I had plans to spend the summer on the other side of the world. There was no use starting something that can’t be followed through on with so little time left in the semester, he reasoned.

That’s why he didn’t act on his earlier interest. He figured he’d just enjoy this semester getting to know me as a friend, and assuming we were both still single when school started back up, he’d have revealed his intentions to me in the Fall.

His plan was working fine and dandy until J stepped in and asked me on a date. Suddenly he began to realize that I might not be single next Fall, or even next week, so he had to play his hand and make his move a bit sooner than he originally anticipated.

So we made plans to hang out the following weekend—as in, a painfully long week and a half away.

As much as I was looking forward to getting the chance to get to know him better, one-on-one, I still wasn’t convinced it would go anywhere. He seemed pretty cautious and he clearly intended to be slow-moving if he was content to wait until we returned to school five months from then!

As excited as I was—and I was extremely excited—I still found myself a little torn. At that point, the idea of dating J had honestly grown on me quite a bit. A conflict of emotions began to whirl up inside of me, but I did my best to remain calm and rational about the whole situation.

More than anything I still wanted what God wanted for me. Maybe it was Rob after all? Then again, maybe it was J, and somehow Rob was playing a small part in making that happen.

I decided then and there to spend more time on my knees, asking for God’s wisdom and guidance than time daydreaming and fretting over the fact that the object of my affection just told me that he wanted to get to know me better. Or the fact that I had two incredible guys both expressing an interest in me at the same time.

I can’t tell you which one I did more of, praying or fretting, but I can assure you that I did an awful lot of both in the weeks to come!

I couldn't wait to share this turn of events with my best friend Ruthi and my roommate Tara. But first I had to do the walk of shame into my class, noticeably late, with a grin that had to have left my classmates wondering what the heck just happened!

Click on the "Our Love Story" tag at the top of the page to see other love story posts, or to start from the beginning.

6 comments:

So, I confess, I started reading from the beginning tonight and not when you started writing because I knew that once I started, I'd want to read them all right away! (obviously, I should have waited longer-I'm having the same feelings as when an episode of 24 is over...but in a MUCH SWEETER and not a chance of causing bad dreams, sort of way :-)) I love your writing and your relationship is so sweet. I've told Dave a couple times that I wished we lived closer so we could get to know you guys in person! Thanks for sharing!

Amy, I've thought the same about wanting to get to know you guys better too. I've also enjoyed reading your blog, and I feel like I know you pretty well because of the time I've spent blog-stalking you :0)

I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I'll finish it up in about 9 months, so in some ways it's more painful than watching 24. Then again, you already know the ending so maybe it's not so bad?

Well, you know how 24 always ends too. Jack Bauer will live to save the day and avert at least the most doomsday-ish scenario with aggressive tactics and nearly ubiquitous satellite surveillance. For season 8, I saw the last 4 episodes and had to wait 8 months to get the DVD to watch the first 20 episodes. Still couldn't stop watching. Even if you know the end, it's finding out how everything happened.

I have to say though, Robyn, that you might want to look up the most popular meaning of "walk of shame".

I don't think I've heard it used in an alternate context before. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk_of_shame), some reality shows use the term to describe someone's departure, and in sports it could be the walk caused by elimination from a poker game, a red card in soccer, or several scenarios in baseball. Although I am a sports fan, and have never heard it used in a sports context before.

For alternative wording, maybe something like, "But first I had to make an embarrassingly belated entrance to my class, with a grin..."